Congratulations 2009 Graduates!

To West Hartford high school graduates -
(both public and non-public schooled)

Congratulations on a job well done!
Good luck in your future endeavors!

Poetic License

West Hartford's great municipal nightmare is over! - we have a new "Poet Laureate".
You can be relieved that we will not have to lift another latte in town without some poetic words to utter.

According to definition - "A Poet Laureate is a poet officially appointed by a government and is often expected to compose poems for State occasions and other government events." In the case of West Hartford, our Town's Poet Laureate is expected to sponsor readings each year and to promote poetry in town. Don't worry though - it's not a paid position (at least not yet).

West Hartford News reported

Dennis Barone, English professor, director of the American Studies program at St. Joseph College and the author of 14 books, was named the second West Hartford Poet Laureate in the town's history last week.
Out of seven nominations, he was selected by committee and will serve a two-year term.

He replaces West Hartford's two term Poet Laureate (and also the Town's first), Maria Sassi, who accepted the position in 2005.

Councilwoman Shari Cantor was given credit for spending the last few years spearheading the effort and responding to the poets in town who initially asked to have a Town Poet Laureate post created. Councilwoman Cantor busied herself with the project of helping to establish this position and brought forth candidates and their work to the Council to fill the position.

Here is a sample of Barone's work:

DOCUDRAMA

A window repairman came to repair a window
where a bird had flown into it and broke it.
The next day another bird met its match on the window’s mate.

Poetry is the absence of insurance.

In another room another man spoke about a woman
in a language that could not be understood and he
kept close count of his pulse as he struck the ivory
keys on an out of tune piano and remembered.

Poetry is the absence of insurance.

Well, as they say, Chacun à son goût (to each his own taste), and for this critic it looks like in this case poetry might also be the absence of coherence.

Of course, Talk of West Hartford has another suggested poetic submission for your consideration: (not penned by TOWH, but by a reader who hopes you will take it with intended tongue in cheek)

There once was a councilor named Cantor
Who enjoyed hearing poetic banter
“The town should get classy
“So let’s go get Sassi
“The first poet laureate,” said Cantor

Sassi visited school after school
Did the students think her poems were cool?
When she read, some would weep
And the rest were asleep
Which was all just incredibly cruel.

After two terms the town called her hence,
“When you started we thought you made sense
“But ‘Rooted in Stars’
Sounds like it’s from Mars
We’re revoking your poetic license!”

A crisis befell the town hall
“For poems now who will we call?”
While the town’s budget waited
The council debated
The next poet they should install

At St. Joseph’s Dennis Barone,
Was an English Professor unknown
He adjusted his glasses
And said “Hold my classes!
“There’s a call on my cellular phone!”

“It’s Cantor here, the town has the blues,
“A new poet we have to choose”
He accepted the job
Of head poet snob
With a write-up in West Hartford News

“Let West Hartford worry no more!
“Have I got some poems in store
“And thanks to my labors
“We’ll show off to our neighbors
“Those Avon and Simsbury bores!”

We know that the job is part time
And what’s more it pays not a dime
But you get what you pay for
If the town would just pay more
Then maybe his poems would rhyme

Congratulations to Mr. Barone and appropriate thanks to Councilwoman Cantor. A West Hartford townwide haiku competition might now just become reality!

Parcxmart: A West Hartford Convenience

It's a parking card.
It's a shoppers card.
It's an instant rewards card.
It's cooler than cash!
It's just like having a new local currency!

West Hartford's Parcxmart card is an idea that has finally arrived in town.

Parcxmart cards are being used in a few cities, and in Connecticut it's being used in West Haven, Bridgeport and now West Hartford. The list of cities will no doubt grow as people catch onto this, and more cities utilize the technology.

You can use your West Hartford Parcxmart card when you travel to other Parcxmart branded Card Towns and Cities. You can also reload your West Hartford Town Card in another Parcxmart town or city; or buy one there and use it here at home.

All the Frequently Asked Questions are here.

Purchase a card at any merchant who sells them (No doubt this list will grow), and you can load the card with up to $100. Be careful though, it's just like cash. The chip in the card does not store personal information, so if you lose your card it's just like losing cash.

How about that for a great Father's Day gift?

On With The Shows! Playhouse On Park

Playhouse On Park is opening its doors in the same spot next to A.C. Petersen Farms, in place of the now defunct Parkroad Playhouse.

Darlene Zoller of Vernon, Tracy Flater of Simsbury and Sean Harris of West Hartford comprise the Playhouse Theatre Group,Inc., (a 501(c) nonprofit) and they are the new renters of the playhouse, having signed a lease recently with the folks from A.C. Petersen Farms who actually own the building.

Their website states this:

The Playhouse on Park theatre space has 165 seats surrounding a three-quarter thrust stage offering audiences of all ages an incredibly intimate theatre experience. A year-round performance schedule is produced and/or presented by Playhouse Theatre Group, Inc. and includes: professional and community theatre; theatre for young audiences; new works and play readings; comedy and improvisation; cabarets and concerts; dance; educational opportunities lead by resident and visiting artists; corporate events, special events and more!

Their mission:

Playhouse Theatre Group Inc., at Playhouse on Park is dedicated to the following purposes:

• to provide quality entertainment at affordable costs to as broad an audience as possible
• to embrace and provide opportunity for professional, emerging and community artists.
• to offer educational and outreach opportunities through visiting and/or resident artists and educators
• to create and/or explore opportunities to collaborate with other existing arts organizations
• to be fiscally responsible and accountable at all times
• to continue to be an integral member of the West Hartford community

Their opening event is "MY SHOW, A Choreographer's Story", which runs JUNE 25-28, 2009, for performances on Thursday at 7:30, Friday at 8:00, Saturday at 8:00, Sunday at 2:00

Talk of West Hartford wishes the new endeavor a boatload of good luck, and as they say in the business - Break a Leg!

Celebrate! West Hartford! June 13 and 14

Celebrate! West Hartford

June 13 and 14, 2009
West Hartford, Connecticut

West Hartford's 23rd annual celebration
Free Admission - Rain or Shine

Celebrate! West Hartford is a highly attended, annual tradition that promotes, embraces and celebrates community life.

Attracting well over 30,000 people each year, Celebrate! also provides festival attendees with a wide range of wholesome family activities – an award winning juried arts & crafts show, great food, entertainment, games, rides, a certified 5K road race – as the saying goes, "something for everyone".

The event offers civic, service, sports, schools and charitable organizations a way to increase community awareness and an opportunity to raise funds for their worthy causes.

Free parking is in the Town Center garage behind Fidelity as well as the Isham garage. REI and Central Connecticut Bicycle Alliance are also repeating the bicycle valet service that they offered last year.

We can taste the fried dough and kettle corn already!

West Hartford Halts Property ReValuation Phase-In

On June 9 the West Hartford Town Council voted to halt the 2006 revaluation 5 year phase-in after the State Legislature passed legislation to allow towns to freeze the revaluation phase-ins that towns in CT had been engaged in. See complete legislative bill details here.

Representative Beth Bye was the only West Hartford legislator to co-sponsor the legislation, although she was absent from the House floor vote along with Rep. Andrew Fleischmann. Rep. McCluskey voted for the measure, and in the Senate, so did Jonathan Harris.

West Hartford Town Manager, Ron Van Winkle said in his explanation at the Town Council meeting, that 75 percent of all homeowners will get a tax break in July because of the cessation of the phase-in. Property owners will be taxed based on the 2007 grand list to figure next fiscal year's taxes. He also mentioned that the vote allows the Town to move forward to send out tax bills to residents and prevent a delay. A delay could have caused problems for the town. The mill rate was 36.97 last year and was supposed to be 34.81 with the phase-in. Nothing on the Town website indicates if there will be a change in the mill rate, although the Town tax calculator comes up with 37.54. (This has to be clarified)

Councilors voted 8-0 on the measure with Councilman Steve Adler abstaining because he felt he did not have enough information on the pros and cons of the issue, especially in light of a document presented by Town resident Robert Sisk regarding the impact of halting the phase-in. (Mr. Sisk was kind enough to forward Talk of West Hartford the document which is now available on Scribd).

Property taxes will now be a little bit less for many residential homeowners, but the freeze on phase-in affects commercial property since the shift of taxes was being placed away from them with revaluation phase-in and that has now been halted.

When houses were re-assessed in 2006, it was at the height of the real estate market, and since then some people had complained that they couldn't even sell their house in the current market for what their house was valued/assessed at. How our property taxes are calculated according to Town Charter and State Law is that the town
1. does a market valuation of your home - either physical, where they come out to actually look at the features and aspects of your home - or statistical, where they more or less apply an overall percent increase or best guess to the value based on the documented features of your home
2. Takes that market value and multiplies it by 70% yielding an assessment which is then applied to the mill rate.

So if your house is valued at $200,000, your assessed value is $140,000. The mill rate is then applied to that assessed value, divided by 1000 and that is how the tax bill is calculated. With the phase-in, the difference between the 2005 market value assessment and 2006 market value assessment of the property was split up into phased in amounts which were to be applied every year until the phase-in was completed. In West Hartford's case that would have been 2011.

Since the phase-in is to be halted, homeowners will be paying taxes on the same assessed value as they did last year (based on the 2007 grand list). This year the only difference will be as a result of applying the mill rate, and not the mill rate plus a phased-in increase in assessed value over last year. This gives property owners a little bit of relief (depending on what the mill rate is).

Critics of the way in which we currently tax property claim that taxing based on market value of property is inherently flawed because homeowners are paying taxes on unrealized capital gains. That is to say, you may be paying higher taxes on a price of your home that can be inflated due to the market conditions. In fact, many homeowners may not be able to sell their homes for the value that they are currently paying taxes on! That is a problem, and amounts to over taxation.

In any case, this move by the legislature and by the Town of West Hartford could be a bit of relief for tax payers until the next revaluation is done.

The real issue regarding higher taxes however, rests more with how much the Town is spending as well as how much they are collecting in non-tax revenues, as both determine how much the homeowners and commercial property owners must make up to cover the cost of running Town services and administration. Keeping Town spending under control and getting the best use of every tax dollar should certainly be the aim of Town elected leaders and administrators.

It's interesting after this past budget cycle that the Town ended up with a budget surplus. It looks like after much budget searching for savings, and now halting revaluation that our Town is doing well. What is still puzzling is how the Board of Education who originally cried that they could not find a slim dime to cut from their budget, and who had heated feelings for the Mayor who took a hard line with them, ended up finding millions of dollars to apply to their budget afterall so that cuts wouldnot have to be made. It looks like that GEICO pile of money just showed up! How fascinating.



That's good news for taxpayers.
But just remember - this is an election year.
Let's hope and pray we don't get slammed with higher spending and even higher taxes next year.